


The Sound of Silence

by Katsuko



Series: Hurt/Comfort Bingo 2012 the Sequel [6]
Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: hc_bingo, De-aging, Families of Choice, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 20:17:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/Katsuko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In some ways, it felt as if many things had gone back to how they once were. This meant, of course, that something would go wrong the first time they left Asgard to adventure as a full band once more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sound of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**hc_bingo**](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) , the prompt being "loss of hearing."

As difficult as it was to admit, Sif truly _had_ missed adventuring with all her shield-brothers; with Loki seemingly lost first to death and then to madness coupled with Thor's long excursions from Asgard, their little band of six had become four. It had not felt either comfortable or right, so she had made her excuses for not traveling from the city.

It was months before she realized that even when she had no ready excuse, Volstagg or Fandral or Hogun had his own excuse for not making any excursions from their home.

When Thor had returned with Loki, it seemed that perhaps they would be five again but that their once-gentle and playful sixth was lost to them forever. Sif and her shield-brothers attended the trial, maintaining their silence but the warrior woman felt a measure of guilt for her own actions. After all, Loki had been upon the throne as regent during Odin's sleep and she had committed treason with barely a second thought. A part of her wondered when her own trial would be, but if it had not yet happened chances were that it would never happen.

Many of the citizens found it strange that Odin did not set Loki to death or lock him in the dungeons for his crimes, instead ordering him to the healers. For her part, Sif wondered if her King had his own suspicions as to the cause of his younger son's actions. She desperately wanted to ask Thor what was going on, but the one time she worked up the courage to confront her shield-brother he looked just as lost as she felt.

So she had instead invited him out to the practice field and they'd sparred for several hours until Hogun came to fetch them for the evening meal.

Almost a year passed before anyone actually saw Loki again, and when he reappeared it was as if the three years in which he'd fallen into madness never happened.

For that matter, it seemed as if several hundred years had never happened; somehow the younger prince had been returned to his adolescence and didn't seem to realize that he had become all but a pariah for the actions he'd committed as an adult. If Sif was placing his age correctly, she would say he looked to be around the age he'd been when Thor decided it would be a grand adventure to find Surtur's sword.

And yet, Loki did not find it odd that his brother and shield-sister who had been so close to him in age were so much older than he was now. If anything, he appeared to think it was the way of things, and that he'd been always been so much younger than the rest of their band.

So Sif, wondering if such extremes had been necessary to save the soul and sanity of her little heart-brother, said nothing and pretended that Loki had always been so obviously the baby of the group. She felt a flicker of joy when she realized that Fandral and Hogun and Thor all did the same and added amusement at how Volstagg took to acting as honorary uncle.

In some ways, it felt as if many things had gone back to how they once were. The only major change was Loki's de-aged status, but it didn't have any negative effects on him so it was easy to pretend that nothing had really ever changed.

This meant, of course, that something would go wrong the first time they left Asgard to adventure as a full band once more.

 

Why any of them thought that a trip to Jotunheim would be a good idea, given the trouble that had cropped up to follow them literally every single time they visited the realm, was a mystery for the ages.

They hadn't even been there for more than five minutes before the new king of Jotunheim and his army had arrived to 'greet' the small band of warriors. On some unspoken agreement, Thor and Fandral had moved to the front of the group while Volstagg, Sif and Hogan had shifted Loki to the middle. It was less to keep him out of sight of the Jotnar and more to cover him so that he could start working out which spells to use if they needed to get out of danger _fast_.

The new king, Helblindi, was less than pleased to have any Asgardian setting foot in his realm, let alone the same group of six that had nearly started off the war all over again and had indirectly (in some cases, _very_ directly) led to the death of his father the former king. He demanded that they turn over the party most responsible for the most recent hardships faced by his people in return for allowing the rest to go free, and was furious when not only Thor but also the Warriors Three refused; for her part, Sif tightened her grip on her glaive and positioned herself to best fend off a sneak attack on her youngest shield-brother.

After that all Hel broke loose, and Sif wasn't entirely sure where the Jotun mages had been hiding, but she had heard the words of the spell only seconds before it would have struck Loki. She didn't even hesitate, throwing herself over the younger and hitting the ground hard as the blue-tinted magic slammed into her. The entire world seemed to vanish in that instant, leaving Sif reeling in darkness for a moment before thin hands grabbed her.

She felt a _push_ and then she could see once again. The sounds of the continuing battle were strangely absent, and a tiny part of her mind panicked before she realized that Loki was still right next to her. He looked drained, and it hit her quite suddenly that the young mage had used his own magic to combat most of the Jotun spell. Sif shoved aside her fear that she might never regain her hearing and caught hold of Loki's arm.

"Head for the Bifrost sight!" she shouted, trying to ignore how weird it felt to not hear her own voice and hoping she was audible over the fighting. Loki nodded and allowed himself to be pulled toward the spot where they'd first arrived, throwing fire spells left and right to clear their path. Sif could feel the ground rumble beneath her feet and prayed desperately that it was only the battle she was feeling and not another monster unleashed to eat them as they fled.

A quick glance over her shoulder showed Hogun and Fandral right behind them, holding off more of the Jotun army as Volstagg and Thor brought up the rear. Sif turned around again and rushed for the Bifrost sight, eyes darting around for hidden dangers that she couldn't hear coming at the moment.

It only took a few short minutes to reach their destination, and Sif could feel herself calling for her half-brother's aid. For a second, she feared that Heimdall would ignore the cry as he'd done the last time they'd journeyed to Jotunheim; then, as the last of her shield-brothers arrived, the bridge was opened and she could feel all of space rushing past her.

There was only a second to feel relief that all of her shield-brothers had escaped relatively unscathed before the world went fuzzy. Sif only realized she was passing out when Hogun caught her as she fell to the floor, and then everything went black.

When she woke up again, it was to the soft sounds of the healing rooms and the equally quiet voices of her shield-brothers speaking around her. She opened her eyes slowly, groaning at the too-bright lights.

"Please tell me that someone managed to punch Helblindi in the gut for me," she said, managing to keep from wincing at how rough her voice sounded to her own ears. She was more than happy to hear _anything_ at the moment, but it was still embarrassing.

"Thor managed a mighty hit before we all fled for the Bifrost," Fandral replied with a small smile. "Chances are very good, however, that it will be at least another century before relations between Asgard and Jotunheim are even lukewarm."

Sif groaned. "Wonderful," she said. "How much trouble are we in?"

The Warriors Three and Thor exchanged a long look before Loki decided to answer the question: "Technically, _we_ did nothing wrong. The Jotnar made a demand that only the King of Asgard could negotiate over, so we were simply leaving to keep from breaking our laws. _They're_ the ones who started throwing about impairment spells the second everyone was distracted," he added with an annoyed scowl that, frankly, was adorable.

"What manner of spell _was_ that, anyway?" Volstagg asked; Sif was unsurprised to note that he'd snuck in a full platter of sweet breads and was making his way through it swiftly.

"The sort that Father banned in battle decades ago," Thor replied. "From what Eir was saying when she was tending to your wounds, Sif, was that such spells are designed to remove all senses from the person targeted. Under the effects of the spell, one cannot see or hear or speak or even feel the ground beneath their feet. And while the victim is trying to regain some contact with the world around them, the spell's caster or another warrior can quickly kill them before they're even aware of the danger."

"I only recognized it for what it was because I read about it in the library," Loki admitted, looking at his hands and trying to hide the faint flush of his cheeks. "I asked Father after that if it would be wise to know how to counter such spells although they were forbidden magic, and he said that our foes are not as honorable as we are."

"In short: the answer was yes," Hogun summarized.

Sif looked over at Loki, whose attention was still focused on his own hands. In the past, she had poked some fun at her youngest heart-brother for his preference to magic over weaponry even as she'd trained with him in the use of throwing blades; she even still had one of the daggers she'd stolen from his room during one of their prank wars. Yet no matter how many times she and the rest of their band had teased him, Loki continued to use all his skills to protect all of them whenever necessary.

And it seemed that nothing had changed where Loki's protective streak was concerned, even if he was so much younger than the rest of them now.

Sif reached out and snagged the younger prince's wrist, dragging him onto the bed with her and grinning at his startled yelp. Once she had him next to her, she wrapped her arms around him in a firm hug. "Thank you, heart-brother," she said sincerely, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Loki flushed even redder and looked everywhere but Sif. "I couldn't just leave you there like that," he said, trying to brush off the action as he always had in the past and would probably continue to do for years to come.

The warrior woman simply smiled and turned to gossip with the rest of her shield-brothers. One arm remained wrapped around their youngest brother the whole time, and when he drifted off to sleep (Thor would tell her after he was down that the young mage had nearly drained his core to cast the spell that restored all but her hearing during the battle) she pulled him beneath the blankets and let him rest.

This was her family, every flawed one of them, and she loved them all.


End file.
